F1 Chinese GP LIVE: Lewis Hamilton reacts after shock first Ferrari pole for sprint race in Shanghai
Lewis Hamilton landed his first pole position as a Ferrari driver by taking the top spot for Saturday’s sprint race at the Chinese Grand Prix.
The 40-year-old, in only his second appearance for the Italian team, saw off Red Bull’s Max Verstappen by just 0.018 seconds in Shanghai to ensure he will start from the front for the 19-lap dash to the chequered flag.
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri qualified third with Hamilton’s team-mate Charles Leclerc fourth, with the Monegasque acknowledging that he was off the pace compared to his British teammate on Friday.
George Russell took fifth for Mercedes, one place ahead of championship leader Lando Norris, who made a mistake on his final lap. The sprint race, the first shortened race of six this year, takes place at 3am (GMT) on Saturday before grand prix qualifying at 7am (GMT).
Follow live updates of the Chinese Grand Prix with The Independent
F1 CHINESE GRAND PRIX - LATEST UPDATES
- The sprint race in China takes place at 3am (GMT) on Saturday morning
- Lewis Hamilton claims shock pole for the sprint; Verstappen 2nd; Piastri 3rd
- Hamilton admitted he was 'gobsmacked' with his first pole for Ferrari
- Click HERE for the top-10 in sprint qualifying
- TRIBUTE: Rock-and-roll Eddie Jordan gave Schumacher his debut – and his flamboyance captivated F1’s paddock
Lewis Hamilton on pole for the sprint!
08:16 , Kieran JacksonLewis Hamilton - welcome to the Ferrari party!
Hamilton is on pole for the sprint - by 0.018 seconds to Max Verstappen!
3-10: Piastri, Leclerc, Russell, Norris, Antonelli, Tsunoda, Albon, Stroll
Norris made an error on his final lap as he boxed! But what a moment for Hamilton in Shanghai - his first pole for Ferrari!
Lewis Hamilton on X:
12:15YUP pic.twitter.com/1KCKPforBG
— Lewis Hamilton (@LewisHamilton) March 21, 2025
SPRINT QUALIFYING REPORT: Lewis Hamilton ‘gobsmacked’ after first F1 pole position for Ferrari in China
11:45 , Kieran JacksonLewis Hamilton landed his first pole position as a Ferrari driver by taking top spot for Saturday’s sprint race at the Chinese Grand Prix.
The 40-year-old, in only his second appearance for the Italian giants, saw off Red Bull’s Max Verstappen by just 0.018 seconds in Shanghai to ensure he will start from the front for Saturday’s 19-lap dash to the chequered flag.
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri qualified third with Hamilton’s team-mate Charles Leclerc fourth. George Russell took fifth for Mercedes, one place ahead of Lando Norris.
“I’m a bit gobsmacked and taken aback by it,” Hamilton said after his P1 time.
Lewis Hamilton ‘gobsmacked’ after first F1 pole position for Ferrari in China
SPRINT RACE - FULL STARTING GRID
11:28 , Kieran Jackson1. Lewis Hamilton
2. Max Verstappen
3. Oscar Piastri
4. Charles Leclerc
5. George Russell
6. Lando Norris
7. Kimi Antonelli
8. Yuki Tsunoda
9. Alex Albon
10. Lance Stroll
11. Fernando Alonso
12. Ollie Bearman
13. Carlos Sainz
14. Gabriel Bortoleto
15. Isack Hadjar
16. Jack Doohan
17. Pierre Gasly
18. Esteban Ocon
19. Nico Hulkenberg
20. Ollie Bearman
Kimi Antonelli on P7:
11:10 , Kieran Jackson“On softs, I really struggled, grip was poor. The tyres were too cold, struggled through the whole lap. A better qualifying than Melbourne, we’ll see what we can do tomorrow.
“On medium, was feeling really good.”
George Russell after qualifying P5:
10:54 , Kieran Jackson“Pretty happy with the lap in Q3, well done to Lewis to get pole, that’s a great lap.
“P5 is where we are today. We always know it’s tricky with the tyres. Today we did OK.
“It was a surprise with McLaren. We’ve got a shot in the sprint, could be an interesting race.”
Charles Leclerc after qualifying P4:
10:37“I struggled on my side of the garage, I felt I was a step back to Lewis - Lewis was faster today.
“Everything was quite tight, we start P4 but Lewis on pole, hopefully we can have a good race tomorrow.”
Liam Lawson after qualifying P20...
10:25 , Kieran Jackson“I struggled to get the temperatures down, started too hot - it’s frustrating.
“It’s really a shame, we started OK. It’s a shame to be out. We should be a lot further up.”
What are the start times this weekend in China?
10:13 , Kieran JacksonAll times GMT
Saturday 22 March
- Sprint race: 3am
- Qualifying: 7am
Sunday 23 March
- Race: 7am
Lando Norris after qualifying P6:
09:54 , Kieran Jackson“I made a mistake, locked up in the last corner, we struggled a bit more - not quick enough simply, we’ve had difficulties. Too many mistakes, too difficult a car to drive.
“We’ve been struggling with the front locking. A lot more aligned with Bahrain, a lot windier, both myself and Oscar struggled a lot more. Pushing a bit hard.
“This was me trying to push a bit too much, need to back off a little bit. I think the car is in a good window, we can definitely go forward.”
Oscar Piastri in P3!
09:38 , Kieran Jackson“Quick at the wrong points, SQ1 and SQ2 felt good - we tried something a bit different but I’m not sure was the best thing in the end, the pace in the car is still very strong - we can fight tomorrow.”
Lewis Hamilton on first Ferrari pole:
09:25 , Kieran Jackson“I’m a bit gobsmacked and taken aback by it. Didn’t know when we’d get to this position.
“After last weekend, a difficult start to the week. Wanted to go into the weekend with aggression, I had a better feeling in the car - can’t believe we’re at the front!
“I’ve always gone well at this track, maybe it’s the Chinese fans! Definitely wasn’t easy with the tyres, there’s more performance to find for sure.”
San Diego = P1!
09:12 , Kieran JacksonLewis Hamilton’s reaction to pole!
Lewis Hamilton's reaction to his pole position in the Sprint Qualifying!#F1#F1Sprint#ChineseGPpic.twitter.com/Mob3r6PaiA
— Extreme Cars (@extremecars__) March 21, 2025
TOP-10 IN SPRINT QUALIFYING:
09:00 , Kieran Jackson1. Lewis Hamilton
2. Max Verstappen
3. Oscar Piastri
4. Charles Leclerc
5. George Russell
6. Lando Norris
7. Kimi Antonelli
8. Yuki Tsunoda
9. Alex Albon
10. Lance Stroll
Lando Norris went wide at penultimate turn!
08:40 , Kieran JacksonNorris looked good for pole - but he went wide off-track at the end of the back straight!
So... just P6 for the championship leader!
Lewis Hamilton - lap record!
08:26Incidentally, Lewis Hamilton’s pole-setting time of 1:30:849 is now a lap record around the Shanghai International Circuit!
A newly resurfaced track meant a new record was inevitable post-quali - but it’s Hamilton who’s got it!
What a morning for the 40-year-old!
Lewis Hamilton on pole:
08:22 , Kieran Jackson“Big thank you to the amazing crowd today! I didn’t expect that result, so happy and so proud! The last race was a disaster for us, to come here to a track that I love - Shanghai beautiful place, the car came alive from lap one!
“I’m a bit in shock, pole in the sprint puts us in good stead for the race!”
Lewis Hamilton!
08:16 , Kieran Jackson“Really! Mega job!”
Lewis Hamilton goes P1!
08:14 , Kieran JacksonHamilton goes fastest - but the McLarens go again!
Leclerc P3...
Oscar Piastri on provisional pole!
08:12 , Kieran JacksonPiastri goes top with a 1:30:929 - five-tenths quicker than Lando Norris, who made a error in the final sector!
Russell 2nd, Norris 3rd, Antonelli 4th.
Other drivers yet to set a time... where are Ferrari then?!
4:00 to go...
SQ3 underway!
08:10Here we go then - who will be on pole for the sprint?!
10 drivers involved: Norris, Piastri, Hamilton, Leclerc, Verstappen, Stroll, Tsunoda, Albon, Russell, Antonelli
8:00. All on softs. No messing about!
Carlos Sainz out!
08:02 , Kieran JacksonSainz out, Albon IN!
Bottom-five and out in SQ2 (11-15): Alonso, Bearman, Sainz, Bortoleto, Hadjar
Yuki Tsunoda squeezes through! Lance Stroll also through!
Top-3: Norris, Russell, Piastri
Fernando Alonso in trouble!
07:58 , Kieran JacksonCurrent bottom-five (11-15): Sainz, Stroll, Albon, Alonso, Bearman
2:00 LEFT!
George Russell:
07:56 , Kieran Jackson“Tyres aren’t working, both axles.”
SQ2 underway!
07:5010 minutes then for SQ2, where again we will lose the slowest five drivers!
Liam Lawson out in SQ1!
07:46 , Kieran JacksonOh Liam!
Plum last for the Kiwi!
“I could not keep the tyres down,” he says. Nightmare for the Red Bull driver!
Bottom five and out in SQ1 (16-20): Doohan, Gasly, Ocon, Hulkenberg, Lawson
Hamilton P1 at the end there! Onto SQ2...
Carlos Sainz in trouble!
07:42 , Kieran JacksonCurrent bottom-five (16-20): Tsunoda, Sainz, Bearman, Bortoleto, Ocon
2:00 left!
Oscar Piastri quickest so far!
07:38 , Kieran JacksonPiastri fastest by half-a-second!
Alonso 2nd, Hamilton 3rd.
Current bottom-five (16-20): Sainz, Bearman, Bortoleto, Ocon, Russell
6:00 left. A reminder: they’re all on medium tyres in this session!
Sprint qualifying underway!
07:32 , Kieran JacksonHere we go then with SQ1 - 12 minutes where we will lose the slowest five drivers!
This will be quickfire, with a huge queue at the end of the pit-lane ahead of the start of this session!
Sprint qualifying!
07:30 , Kieran JacksonSprint qualifying will follow the same Q1-Q2-Q3 format as qualifying but the session times will be shorter than traditional qualifying:
SQ1 (medium tyres) will be 12 minutes, SQ2 (medium tyres) will be 10 minutes and SQ3 (soft tyres) will be eight minutes.
Who will be on pole for the sprint?! We’ll find out in five minutes!
SPRINT WEEKEND FORMAT
07:22 , Kieran JacksonFriday: Free Practice 1; sprint qualifying (for Saturday’s sprint race)
Saturday: Sprint race (Top-eight receive points, finish order has no impact on grand prix grid); Grand Prix qualifying
Sunday: Grand Prix
How many points are on offer in the sprint race?
P1 - Eight points
P2 - Seven points
P3 - Six points
P4 - Five points
P5 - four points
P6 - three points
P7 - two points
P8 - one point
Charles Leclerc had a spin in FP1!
07:15 , Kieran JacksonTesting the limits at Turn 1
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 21, 2025
Charles Leclerc spins off during FP1 😵💫#F1#ChineseGPpic.twitter.com/3E3DUsbY8F
FP1 RESULTS - Norris goes fastest
07:02 , Kieran JacksonHere's how FP1 finished in Shanghai ⤵️#F1#ChineseGPpic.twitter.com/kRUy1yd48B
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 21, 2025
Ralf Schumacher urges Ferrari to discipline ‘stroppy’ Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc
06:25 , Kieran JacksonLewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc have come in for criticism from Ralf Schumacher, who urged Ferrari to “give them both a rap on the knuckles” for their attitudes during the Australian Grand Prix.
Both Ferrari cars struggled in the rain during Sunday’s race, with Ferrari opting to keep Hamilton out in the worsening conditions when most of the other cars pitted, and the seven-time champion subsequently lost the race lead when held up by a safety car and pitting afterwards.
The Brit eventually slipped to 10th and there was evident friction between him and his new race engineer, Riccardo Adami, with Hamilton repeatedly telling him to “leave me to it” and swearing over the radio when told of his drop down the rankings having had the chance to win on his debut for the Scuderia.
Full piece below:
Ralf Schumacher urges Ferrari to punish ‘stroppy’ Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc
Lando Norris unbothered about 'favourites' tag
06:02 , Kieran Jackson"Makes no difference for me at the minute," he insisted, when asked about ‘favourites’ tag.
"I'm not thinking about it. I don't really care about it. It shouldn't change anything I do, it shouldn't change what the team do. I had one good weekend. People need to calm down a little bit!
"No, I stay focused and I try and do the same here this weekend. But yeah, I probably won't even think of the championship until at least halfway through the year "
Lewis Hamilton given brutal dose of Ferrari F1 reality – as full extent of radio messages revealed
05:02 , Kieran JacksonThere’s nothing like racing agony, the reality of a new dawn compared to the high-octane hullaballoo, to wipe out a two-month period of euphoric bliss. Lewis Hamilton arrived in Melbournevisibly joyous ahead of the opening chapter of his Ferrari story.
Three days on, F1’s joint-most successful driver will now be under no illusions regarding the scale of the voyage ahead.
Report from last race in Australia:
Heartwarming moment sees Lewis Hamilton’s dad console F1 rookie after debut crash
04:02 , Kieran JacksonA touching moment from the last race in Australia!
Lewis Hamilton’s dad Anthony consoled Isack Hadjar in a heartwarming moment in the paddock after the rookie crashed out in a disastrous start to his F1 career.
Torrential rain in Melbourne on Sunday meant very wet conditions for the drivers by the time pole-sitter Lando Norris led the cars round for the formation lap at Albert Park.
Yet French driver Hadjar, 20, who was starting 11th on the grid for Racing Bulls, spun randomly at turn one, with his car propelled into the wall.
Full piece below:
Former Top Gear presenters lead tributes to Formula One ‘legend’ Eddie Jordan
03:02 , Kieran JacksonFormer Top Gear presenters have led the tributes to Eddie Jordan after his death at the age of 76.
Rory Reid described his former co-star as a “legend” while Chris Harris said the former Formula One team owner was a “pure force of nature”.
TV pundit and entrepreneur Jordan, who disclosed in December that he had been diagnosed with cancer, appeared on the BBC motoring show between 2016 and 2018.
Full piece below:
Former Top Gear presenters lead tributes to Formula One ‘legend’ Eddie Jordan
Lewis Hamilton takes swipe at Max Verstappen over radio conduct:
02:03 , Kieran Jackson“Go and listen to the radio calls with others and their engineers...far worse,” Hamilton said, in his press conference ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix.
“The conversation that Max has with an engineer [Lambiase] over the years, the abuse that the poor guy’s taken and you never write about it, but you wrote about the smallest little discussion I had with mine.”
Formula 1 in talks over new grand prix with Stefano Domenicali ‘impressed’ by plans
01:02 , Kieran JacksonA new grand prix in Bangkok could soon come to fruition after Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali paid a visit to Thailand to discuss plans.
Domenicali travelled to the Asian country in the days following last weekend’s season opener in Australia, meeting Thai prime minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra.
There, he heard about the nation’s ambitions to stage an inaugural F1 race on its streets.
Thailand is one of several countries eager to join an already packed calendar - but with the Dutch Grand Prix’s impending departure from the schedule in 2026, there may just be space for a new race down the line.
Jake Humphrey's tribute to Eddie Jordan:
Thursday 20 March 2025 23:14 , Kieran JacksonJake Humphrey, a friend and colleague of Eddie Jordan, told a story of the former Formula 1 team owner on BBC Radio 5 Live.
He said: "We will never see the likes of Eddie Jordan ever again. I remember him telling me a story once, this is in the days before everything was televised, he had two sponsors.
“He needed the money from both the sponsors to keep the team going so he put one sponsor on one side of the track, one sponsor on the other. Neither of them saw the full car, he put one sponsor on one side and the other on the other.
“So as the car comes down the straight he said 'look at that car covered in your branding. He was running between the two sponsors, neither of them aware there was another sponsor on the other side. Just to get through.”
George Russell on McLaren's car this year:
Thursday 20 March 2025 21:30 , Kieran JacksonRussell said of McLaren before this weekend's Chinese Grand Prix: "Their car should win every race but I don't think they will win every race this year. Let's see.
"The gap they have this year on everybody is bigger than Red Bull has ever had.
“But when Max was in that [2023] car he was pretty reliable every single lap he did, every single run in Q3, throughout qualifying, never really a question."
SPRINT WEEKEND FORMAT
Thursday 20 March 2025 21:10Friday: Free Practice 1; sprint qualifying (for Saturday’s sprint race)
Saturday: Sprint race (Top-eight receive points, finish order has no impact on grand prix grid); Grand Prix qualifying
Sunday: Grand Prix
How many points are on offer in the sprint race?
P1 - Eight points
P2 - Seven points
P3 - Six points
P4 - Five points
P5 - four points
P6 - three points
P7 - two points
P8 - one point
Rock-and-roll Eddie Jordan gave Schumacher his debut – and his flamboyance captivated F1’s paddock
Thursday 20 March 2025 20:45 , Kieran JacksonAn old-school Irishman of quick wit and vibrancy, Eddie Jordan was a Formula One figure whose influence touched every corner of motorsport’s most-famed paddock throughout a career in the sport lasting over 30 years.
From a promising race driver and savvy team owner to a captivating broadcaster and erudite manager, Jordan’s sad passing at the age of 76 on Thursday, after a year-long battle with cancer, has sent shockwaves through a sport now in its pomp.
Full tribute below:
Rock-and-roll Eddie Jordan had an Irish flamboyance which captivated F1’s paddock
What are the start times in China?
Thursday 20 March 2025 20:40 , Kieran JacksonAll times GMT
Friday 21 March
- Free practice 1: 3:30am
- Sprint qualifying: 7:30am
Saturday 22 March
- Sprint race: 3am
- Qualifying: 7am
Sunday 23 March
- Race: 7am
Chinese Grand Prix!
Thursday 20 March 2025 20:39 , Kieran JacksonWelcome to The Independent’s live coverage of the Chinese Grand Prix and round two of the 2025 F1 season!
Lando Norris won the season-opening Australian Grand Prix for McLaren after surviving a slide off track in the rain and a late challenge from second-place Max Verstappen. George Russell was third for Mercedes.
Norris' teammate and potential title rival Oscar Piastri span off the road and recovered to finish ninth after a late overtake on Lewis Hamilton, who was 10th in a frustrating debut for Ferrari.
But what will happen in Shanghai this weekend? It is also the first sprint weekend of the new campaign!
Topics
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Lewis Hamilton takes first Ferrari F1 pole for Chinese GP sprint race
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